The author, Patricia Chase, notes that there are three big carrots, as to why this is so, plus one big old stick.

First the carrots:"bicycle planning has the same status as public transport in planning and funding. Bike paths and routes are either clearly marked or separated from vehicular traffic by curbs, bike lanes have their own traffic signals and bikes are prioritized over cars at places where they meet."I want to linger on her second point for just a moment. When visiting Denmark, I have always thought that this was the single most brilliant thing there.In the image above, look how there is, from left to right, a steady progression of speeds and mass--fast car, parked cars (providing a barrier and, since the car doors open into the road, less chance of cyclist/door collision) then a dedicated bike lane, then pedestrians. Can we do that in Seattle? I don't see why not.

Other great things include in our Master Plan: striping through intersectionsBicycle queuing and traffic signals (see that green light to the right of the red one?)and babies!All images in this post taken from International Sustainablity Solutions, which has great study trips to Copenhagen, Germany and Sweden.

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Open Space Seattle 2100: Designing Seattle's Green Network for the Next Century
University of Washington, the City of Seattle, the Urban Land Institute and other organizations are sponsoring Open Space Seattle: 2100, a design and planning process to formulate a 100-year vision for Seattle's comprehensive open space network. Join us for inspiring lectures, and start forming your team for a 2-day visioning charrette on February 3 and 4, 2006.
Email: open2100@u.washington.edu